ABOUT

Monday, November 1, 2010

Hand made gifts by ta. (as in "ta da!")

I have a special post today from my friend Noelle Walker. I met Noelle a long time ago when we were Delta Gamma college sorority sisters back at TCU. We reconnected a few years ago when I moved to San Francisco.

Some of you here in the Bay Area may recognize her from her work as an Emmy award winning TV reporter. In fact, she just interviewed Tom Brokaw before a Governor's debate. And she currently runs her own business called Scoop Media.

In her spare time she crochets amazing hats and scarves. So for those of you that just finished reading the article Killing off Supermom. You're in luck. Noelle is here to save us. So ladies (and gents), put down your knitting needles, set aside the beads and please, put down the be-dazzler. It's not "in" anymore anyway. I have the solution.

Hand made gifts. Made with love, from an old college friend.

In her own words:

My hands are stiff.
Achy. The joints crack with
every bend. I think of my Grammy,
telling me not to hold the needle and yarn so tightly.

Grammy taught me to crochet when I was about 7 years old. With my little hands sweating over
every stitch, she cooed over my miscounted, misfit creations. There is photo evidence tucked away in a box in a closet somewhere of
me wearing my “designs”. I vividly
remember a crooked vest of burnt orange and gold (in my defense, it was the
‘70‘s) that I fashioned from my grandmother’s scrap yarn pile. My mom cried when I insisted on wearing
it to document my 2nd grade year.
Grammy couldn’t have been more proud!

It’s been decades since I picked up a crochet hook, or thought
about how to do a 1/2 double or seed stitch. So I don’t know what gave me the idea to make a baby blanket
for my oldest and dearest friend.
It wasn’t just left field, it was an idea that came from the left side
nosebleed bleacher seats! I called
Grammy, who’s now 97, hoping she’d tell me to just go buy one and be done with
it. Instead, she told me it was
like riding a bike. She had all
the confidence in the world that I could, indeed, make a BEAUTIFUL baby
blanket. I had to ask if she
remembered that horrible vest! She
remembered it differently than I: perfect.

I had no clue the baby blanket would lead me down a road that
wasn’t even on my map. After years as a news reporter and media consultant/coach, the
roads I travel lead to press conferences, crime scenes, and the occasional
Hollywood star gone-to-jail-rehab-jail-rehab. When I picked up that crochet hook, I really went off the
map!

I started making hats and scarves for friends’ birthdays. A few of them told me I should sell
them (sometimes you need friends to tell you you’re better than you think you
are), and “ta da!”... a business.
In my case, it was just “ta”: that’s what I named my business. “Ta” is Australian slang for “thanks”,
something everyone who I gave one of my hats/scarves to said...genuine
thanks. To them, I say ta for
believing in me!

So here I am; crocheting my way to early arthritis, channeling my
Grammy with every stitch. “Loosen
your grip, sweetie...” “That’s
just beautiful...” (Smile).